1. Field
The present invention relates generally to communication, and more specifically to techniques for providing location services.
2. Background
It is often desirable, and sometimes necessary, to know the location of a wireless device in a network. For example, a wireless user may utilize the wireless device to browse through a website and may click on location sensitive content. The web server may then query the network for the location of the wireless device. The network may initiate location processing with the wireless device in order to ascertain the location of the wireless device. The network would then return a location estimate for the wireless device to the web server, which may use this location estimate to provide appropriate content to the wireless user. There are many other scenarios in which knowledge of the location of the wireless device is useful or necessary. In the following description, the terms “location” and “position” are synonymous and are used interchangeably.
A message flow (which may also be called a call flow or a procedure) is typically executed in order to obtain a location estimate for the wireless device and to send this location estimate to a client entity (e.g., the web server). Various messages are typically exchanged between one or more network entities, the wireless device, and the client entity for the message flow. These messages ensure that each entity is provided with pertinent information, or can obtain this information from another entity, in order to carry out positioning for the wireless device and/or to deliver the location estimate to the client entity. However, these messages add to the traffic among the various network entities. The additional traffic may be much greater for periodic location reporting, which periodically provides a location estimate for the wireless device to the client entity. The messages may also extend the response time for sending the location estimate to the client entity, possibly by an unacceptable amount.
There is therefore a need in the art for techniques to efficiently provide location services.